Bag filling device



April 25, 1939. J. J. NEUMAN ET AL 2,156,224

BAC- FILLING DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 5, 1937 3 shets-sheet 1 (lttorneg April 25, 1939. J. J NEUMAN ET AL BAC- FILLING DEVICE 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Original Filed Aug. 5, 1957 I l ..L

| I l l l Smnenton, saunas-Nun; v. HARIXG-NELlMkN (Ittorneg April 25, 1939.

J. J. NEUMAN ET AL 2,156,224

BAG FILLING DEVICE Original Filed Aug. 5, 1937 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 I L Fl .99 97 39 42a Zinnentors smossmeuhnl max A. Ni-HRN Gttomeg Patented Apr. 25, 19 39 UNiTEDS TA-TES BAG FILLING DEVICE Jacob J. Neuman, Jamaica, and Harry G. Neuman, Yorktown Heighta-N. Y.; said Jacob J. Neuman assignor of his right to United States Patent Development and Royalty Company, South Salem, N. Y a company of New York Original application August 5, 1937, Serial No. 157,480. Divided and this application December- 23, 1937, Serial N0. 181,326 1 .6 Claims.

This invention relates to automatic packing and weighing apparatus, and is an improvement over the bag-holding means embodied in U. 8. Patent No. 1,823,283. This application is a division of our pending application Ber. No. 157,480

' of Aug. 5, 1937.

It is one of the objects of our invention to provlde a simple, reliable, and yet quick acting means for firmly holding a flexible container wall at the open end thereof in an expanded condition for the feeding of the material into the container, and alsoto provide means for vibrating the container or shaking the same and its contents for the purpose of compacting the material during the filling l5 operation subsequent to removal from the filling means.

In the past considerable difiiculty has been experienced in quickly forming the mouth of a flexible container for sewing or other sealing operation subsequent to the filling operation due to the distended condition of the filled container. It is therefore an additional object of the invention to provide means for firmly holding the open mouth of the container in such a position during the filling operation that a predetermined amount of material may be received in a container of minimum size and still leaveslack at the open end to permit forming of the mouth thereof for the sealing operation in a minimum period of time.

Another object of our invention is'to provide means whereby flexible containers of varying sizes may be automatically held with a predetermined uniform pressure regardless of the size 5 thereof, thus preventing the rupturing of the material of a small container or the holding of a large container with insuiilcient pressure to permit the vibrating thereof,

With the foregoing and other objects 'in view,

the invention will be more, fully described hereinafter, and will be more particularly pointed out in the claims appended hereto.

Similar characters of reference refer to similar parts throughout the several views.

In the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary side element of a portion of the bag filling machine having a bag holding and operating means therefor;

Figure 2 is a sectional view taken on the line 2-2 of Figure 1;

Figure 3 is a vertical section takenon the line 3-3 of Fig. 2 showing the arrangement of the air passages in the air control valve;

, Figure 4 is a diagrammatic view of the air control valve showing the direction of the flow of air when the left hand pedal, shown 'in Fig. 2, is depressed;

Figure 5 is a view similar to Fig. 4 showing the direction of the flow of air when the right hand pedal shown in Fig. 2, is depressed; 5 Figure 6 is an enlarged detail' side elevation, partly cut away, of the bag holding means showing a bag in applied position; 4 Figure 7 is a sectional view of an alternate embodiment of the means for regulating pressure in 10 the air supply tank illustrated in Fig. -1;

Figure 8 is a fragmentary side elevation showing an alternate embodiment of the means for clamping the container to the bag holding means.

Figure 9 is a detail side elevation partly cut away, and showing another embodimentoi the invention with means for weighing; and an arrangement for manual operation of the holding means; and

Figure 10 is a horizontal section taken on the 29 line Ill-l0 of Fig. 9.

Referring to the drawings, and more particularly to Figs. 1 to 6, a suitable hopper designated by the reference character l0 receives a commodity of a granulated or comminuted nature and 25 feeds it into flexible containers such as bags or sacks one of which is indicated in dotted lines at B in Fig, 1. A horizontally positioned frame il having opposite side members i2 and I3, is fulcrumed at Mo to the vertically disposed bars i l, 30 which are suitably fixed at their upper ends to ceiling beams or similar stationary structure. At the end of frame I I, cross bar l6 extends between the side members I2 and ii of the frame II. To the bar it, there is fulcrumd a rod I5. 35

'The upper end of the rod I5 is fastened to a suitable means for vertically oscillating the frame I i.

Means for this purpose are shown and described in the above identified patent, and form no part of this invention.

Halves I1 and I8 of a split sleeve, generally designated by the numeral I9, comprise a. channel or duct through which material passes from the hopper structure I0 to-the container B, said hopper structure being positioned above and .ex- 4 tending into the split sleeve IS. The halves l1 .and I8 of the split sleeve l9 form the bag supporting and expanding structure and have shoes or side plates 20 and 2i secured thereto, said shoes, I; I engaging for longitudinal motion thereon, auxgo iliary side members 22 and 23 which form a guide or channel and are suitably fastened to the side members I2 and I3. At the lower extremities of the members I! and I8 there are secured yieldable headings comprising the bodies 24 and 25.155

The hopper III has a flexible rubber tube 80 clamped about its lower extremity by a suitable means such as the strap 8I. The lower edge of the tube 80 is turned up around the heading 24 and 25 at the lower portion of the split sleeve I9 and suitably secured thereto as by cement or other adhesive to form an air tight joint. Due to its flexible nature, the tube 80 is adapted to stretch when the halves of the split sleeve I9 are separated to clamp a container thereon and forms an air tight yet flexible connection or duct between the hopper I8 and the container B and thereby prevents the loss of any material. This is especially advantageous in the handling of flnely divided material such as powdered sugar, flour, or cement.

Fulcrumed between the lugs 26 of the members I I and I8 are the sack clamping members 21 and 28 having secured thereto the yieldable cushion portions or pads 29 and 38. Thesack clamping member 21 is pin connected at its upper extremity to the rod 3 I, the opposite end of which is adjustably secured to the transverse cross member 32 of the frame II. The sack clamping member 28 is pin connected to the rod 33, the opposite end of said rod 33 being connected to the reciprocating piston 34 in the cylinder 35. The cylinder 35 is supported by the transverse members 36 extending across the frame members I2 and I3 and secured thereto. In the head 31 of the air cylinder 35 is a needle valve 38, which forms an adjustment for the speed of action of the piston 34 by controlling the back pressure in the cylinder 35.

Pressure fluid is admitted to either side of the piston 34in the cylinder 35 by means ofthe pipes 39 and 40 having suitable flexible connections interposed therein, such as the hose connections 4i in Fig. 2, to permit oscillation of the frame II. The pipes 39 and 40 have valves I29 and I30 to control the flow of pressure fluid to the cylinder 35 and may be of any suitable type, their thereto. The cylinder 45, Figs. 3 to 5, fitting in the casing, is adapted to move about its axis, and said casing 42 has four openings spaced substantially 90 apart about the circumference of the cylinder 45, said openings communicating with the pipes 39, 46, 46 and the exhaust port 41.- The cylinder 45 has the passages 49 and 50 opening at points substantially 90 apart on the circumference thereof, which are adapted to be brought in line with openings in the casing 42 connecting to pipes 39, 49, 46 and 41, thereby serving to direct theflow of pressure fluid in said pipes.

The cylinder 45 is mounted on the shaft 5i which projects through one of the plates 44 and has an arm 52 which carries the foot pedals 53 keyed thereto. A suitable tension spring such as spring 48 is fastened at the upper endthereof to plate 44 and at its lower extremity to the arm 52 and serves to return the arm 52 and pedals 53 and 54 to the position shown in Fig. 1, turning the cylinder 45 with the passages 49 and 59 to the neutral position shown in Fig. 3. Pipe 46 connects valve 42 with the storage tank 55 which may be of any suitable type. The tank 55 has a pressure regulating means which in the embodiment shown in Fig. 1, has the valve 56 electrically operated by means of the battery 51, or other convenient source of electrical energy, transmitted through the conductors 58, 59, and 66 andcontrolled by the pressure switch 6| which may be of any suitable type, being designed to open the set of contacts 62 and thus interrupt the flow of current to the solenoid valve 56 (not shown in detail), when the fluid pressure in the tank 55 reaches a predetermined value. This is set by the adjusting knob 63 thus permitting the valve 56 to close and shut off the flow of fluid through the pipe 64 to the tank 55.

In Figure 1, a tension spring I28 shown in dotted lines, has one end secured to the bag-holding member I! and the opposite end secured to the cross member 32 of the frame II. The purpose of this spring I28 is to effect a quick release of the sack clamping member 21. When this spring I28 is not used it is necessary that the holding member I8 be entirely closed against the holding member I'I before the sack clamping member 21 will be released, whereas where the spring I28 is used it will move the holding member I! to the left andrelease the clamping member 21 as soon as the tension on the container B is released. When filling large containers, the spring I28 is not necessary as the wright of the filled container will be suflicient to release it.

In Fig. '7 of the drawings, I have shown an alternate form of the means for regulating the Pressure in the tank 55. Thus in lieu of the electrically operated solenoid valve 56 and the pressure switch ii, a. mechanical pressure regulating valve may be interposed in the pipe 64 in place of said valve 56. The embodiment shown consists of the casing 65 having the chamber 66 communicating with the supply pipe 64 and the chamber 61 connected with the tank 55, said chambers 66 and 61 being separated by a partition 68 having two ports adapted to be closed by the valve discs 69 and Ill carried by the stem 'II These are so disposed that the pressure fluid in the chamber 66 acts to force the disc 19 downward with the same pressure acting to force the disc 69 upward thus balancing these forces and offering no restraint to either opening or closing of the valve due to the said forces. The stem II extends upward into the bonnet or chamber 12,

' formed by the casing 13 and the cap I4, and is secured to the center of the diaphragm '15 by the nut 16. The diaphragm I5 is clamped between the casing I3 and the cap 14 and is restrained from upward motion by the'spring II which is in turn restrained at the upper end thereof by the adjustable part I8 of the cap 14, which is adapted to be screwed down into the cap I4 to increase the compression of said spring I1. The lower side of the diaphragm I5 is adapted to be acted upon by pressure fluid in the chamber 61 through the passage 19 in the valve casing 13.

In Figure 8, there is shown another embodiment of the sack clamping member in which the numeral I26 designates a sack clamping member of somewhat different shape than the sack clamping members 21 and 28. The yieldable pad I2! is smaller than the pads 29 and 30 and engages with the bag over the beading 25 only. A fiat spring I25 is secured to the sack holding member I8 and extends down from between the lugs 26, the purpose of said spring I 25 being to form a means to hold the container in position on the holding member I8 prior to the operation of the clamping member I 26 by the actuating mechanism.

In Figs. 9 and 10, a substantially horizontal frame 92 is' 'fulcrumed at its opposite side members 83 and 84 by the bar 85 having the ends thereof V shaped to form a knife edge support for said frame 82 upon the rings 96 which are supported by the rods 81 from ceiling beams or other suitable stationary superposed structure. Blocks 89 of the frame 82 having V shaped recesses therein, are rigidly fastened in transverse alignment,v one to each of the side frame members 83 and 84 and are adapted to support the bag holding and expanding means, by theknife edges 89 carried by the auxiliary frame 99. The auxiliary frame 99 is composed of two short longitudinally disposed side members 9| to which one-half designated by reference character 92, is rigidly fastened and upon which the other half designated 93 of the hollow sleeve is adapted to slide in a longitudinal direction. The bag holding members 92 and 93 have the bosses 94 appended thereto, to which the levers 95 and the levers 96 are pivotally secured, the levers 95 having the clevices 91 which are pivotally connected to the levers 96. The levers 98 are connected by the rod 98 at their outer extremities, said rod 98 being adapted to be raised and lowered by the operator to thereby move the half 93 of the sleeve towards or away from the other half oi the sleeve 92. The levers 95 are composed of hollow sections 99 into which the parts carrying the clevices 91 are adapted to slide, compression springs I99 being carried in said hollow parts 99 which tend to yieldably urge the clevis parts 91 out of said hollow parts 99, said clevis parts 91 being limited in their motion relative to the hollow parts 99 by the pins I9I operating in slots I92. At one end of the auxiliary frame 99, the side members 9| thereof are spaced. apart by the rod I93, which is adapted to be raised and hooked to the shaking means. This shaking means comprises the hook I94, the chain I95, the eccentric cam I96 and the motor I91. The side members 9| of said frame 99 have notches I99 adapted to engage the transverse member I99 of the main frame 82, when the rod I93 is hooked to said chain I95 during the shaking operation. The cross member I23 of the main frame 82 forms a stop for the opposite end of the auxiliary frame 99. The main frame 82 has the transverse rod II9 fitting in the side members 83 and 84, and extending through the slots I II at the lower ends of the vertical rods II2, said rods II2 being fastened to ceiling beams or other suitable stationary structure. The slots III thereby limit the motion of the frame 82 about its fulcrum 85. The frame 82 has at the opposite end from the bag supporting mechanism, a transverse cross member II3 with the knife edge section 4 supporting the weights II5 which may be varied at will, and in addition the side member 83; has the graduated bar II6 fastened thereto, with the weight 1 slidably.

thebag B is disposed about the holders I 1 and II!- when they are in an initially contracted position as shown in Fig. 1, the gussets indicated by the dotted lines G being folded against the side wall of the bag B at the upper edge thereof. The surfaces of the pads 29 and 39 are so shaped at the upper portion thereof, that they are in clo seproximity to the holders 24 and 25 thereby enabling the operator to insert the folded gussets of the empty bag between the yieldable pads 29 .and 39 and the sides of the holder 24 and 25, the said pads then serving to support the weight of the empty container B without'further aid from the operator. This function may f also be performed I by the springs I25, as shown in Fig. 8. With the bag B now in position on the holders I1 and I8, the operator then presses the pedal 53, as will be seen in Fig. 2, thus admitting pressure fluid from tank 55 through the pipe 46 through the passage 59 of the valve 42, as shown in Fig. 4, to the pipe 39 and the cylinder 35, where it expands and moves the piston 34 to the right, the air on the opposite side of the piston 34 escaping through the pipe 49 and the passage 49 of the valve 42 and the pipe 41 to the atmosphere. As the piston 34 and the rod 33 move to the right, the clamp 28 is turned about its pivot until the pad 39 is brought toa stop against the side of the bag B clamping it against the side of the holder I8. The rod 33 continues to-move, sliding the holder I8 along the members I2 and I3 until the slack in the bag B is taken up. The bag B then pulls the holder I1 to the right which causes the clamp 21 to move about its pivot and.

tension for a given setting of the knob 63 of the pressure switch 6|.

It is necessary that the tension with which the ,qontainer B is held on the holders I1 and I8 be 'suflicient to prevent it from slipping off said holders I1 and I8 due to the weight of the said container B when filled, and also due to the oscillation thereof by the shaking means, and yet the tension must not be so great that the material of the container B is ruptured. That the container B will be held with a predetermined force regardle'ss of the size thereof is insured by the use of the pressure regulating means in combination with the cylinder 35, as an operating means. Once that the pressure in the tank 55 is set at the correct value by means of the adjusting screw 63 or 18, the force due to pressure fluid acting on the piston 34 will remain constant regardless of the variations of the position, due to change in bag size, at which the piston 34 is brought to a stop. This is an important advantage since containers which are ostensibly of a un form size will nevertheless be found to vary somewhat and although a means may be provided for making adjustments for variations in bag size it is obviously not practtical to adjust the machine for all these small variations which nevertheless are an important factor especially in the filling'of paper containers which are relatively non-yielding in nature.

Material is now fed into the container B and the shaking means is started in order to oscillate the frame II during the filling operation. When the proper amount of material has been fed into the container B, the feed is cut off and the shaking means stopped. The operator then presses the pedal 54 (Fig. 2) which turns the cylinder 45 of the valve 42 into the position shown in Fig. 5, thus bringing the passage 49 in line with pipes 46 and 49. This admits air to the right side of the piston 34 and moves the half I8 against the half turning the clamps 21 and 28 to their initial positions and releasing the bag 3 therefrom. A means such as the spring 48 returns the valve 42 to the neutral position, as shown in Fig. 3, when the operator removes his foot from the pedal and the air pressure in the cylinder is released through the needle valve 88.

In the use of the embodiments shown in Figs. 9 studio,- the mouth of the bag B is disposed about the lower part of the holders 92 and 88 in their initially contracted condition, and the handle 98 is lowered to move the holder 88 away from the holder 02 thus placing the mouth of the bag under tension, the beading I24 frictionally engaging the material of the bag B, and supporting it upon said holders 92 and 93 in a position to be filled. Material is now fed into the bag 3 from the hopper structure I0 disposed above, it being advantageous to first feed the greater portion into the bag rapidly and then add additional material in small amounts until the scale is balanced as indicated.

I ment of the bar I03, the knife edges of the auxiliary frame are raiseo off the V blocks 88 of the main frame 82, and the side members SI of the auxiliary frame are brought to bear against the cross member I23 at the left end of the main frame 82. Since the chain I05 is of such a length that still further movement is required before the bar I03 may be hooked thereon, the main frame 82 is tilted until the bar I I0 is brought to bear upon the base of the slots III, the frame 82 now being supported by the rods I I2, the knife edges of the bar 85 being lifted clear of the rings 86, thus permitting the frame 82 to be oscillated by the shaker motor I01 without injury to the knife edges 85 and 88, or their supports 88 and 88.

length of time the motor I01 is stopped,-the handle 98 is raised and the holder 93 is moved towards the holder 92, thereby the bag B is released.

Among the essentials of the invention are: the

arcane;

manual method of operating the bag holder; the compensating of the manual holder for the size of the bag by the springs I00; the springs I25 for holding the empty bag when first applied to the holder; and the spring I28 for effecting quick release of bagB when desired.

It is obvious that various changes and modificationsmay be made in the details of construction and the method of use of the above described embodiment of our invention without departing from the spirit thereof, such changes and modifications being restricted only by the scope of the following claims:

We claim:

l. A hag filling machine comprising relatively movable members, headings on said members, a hopper within said members, and an elastic apron secured to said hopper and extending over said headings.

2. A bag fillingmachine comprising movable members, headings on said members, a hopper within said members, an elastic apron secured to said hopper and exten ng over said headings, and yieldable clamping m ans by which a bag is secured to said covered headings.

3. A bag filling machine comprising movable members, headings on said members, a hopper within said members, an elastic apron secured an elastic apron secured to said feeding means and extendingover said members, and means by which a bag is secured to said apron covered members. When the bag has been shaken for a sufilcient 6. A hag filling machine comprising feeding means, relatively movable members capable of vertical and horizontal movement with respect to the feeding means, said members having a larger diameter than said feeding means and receiving said feeding means, and an elastic circular apron having one end of larger diameter than the other end, the smaller end of said apron being secured to said feeding means and the larger end of the apron being secured to the members, whereby the vertical and horizontal movement is absorbed by the apron without disturbing its connection with the feeding means and the members.

HARRY G. NEUMAN. JACOB J. NEUMAN. 

